Is Muir woods a short day trip from San Fran? If we are staying in San Fran and have an extra day, Where would you suggest going North only please. Thanks!

silkiegal

Muir woods is indeed a short day trip from SF. A very nice place to visit.

As for your second question, it you want to head north for another day trip, go to wine country - Napa Valley. It's beautiful and entertaining even if you don't care for wine.

If I recall correctly, Muir Woods is about an hour outside of SF. It was terrific . I don't know when you are planning on going, but we went in August and we all wore sweatshirts and light jackets because it is cool in the woods. After Muir Woods, we also took an exciting ride on Route 1 - spectacular views of the Pacific but I must admit I was a big coward & did not enjoy it as much as the rest of the family!

It's a very short day trip - less than 4 hours includes walking the woods and car trip to and from. If you want to make it a longer day trip, then Point Reyes is about an hours drive from the city - a little less from Muir Woods. Point Reyes National Park is a "must see", IMHO.
http://www.nps.gov/pore/

I would do the Muir Woods (25 min from Hot Stanford Court)in the AM and head to Sonoma rather than Napa for a more relaxed wine country experience - Ch. St Jean is still quite friendly.
M
There are many more Sonoma County wineries to the North and West of the city of Sonoma as well.

We left in the morning for Muir Woods (Not before 8am), parked and walked around. We took all the pictures we wanted and then we headed up to Napa where we had Lunch and spent the rest of the afternoon, getting back into San Fran by early evening. It's definitly an easy/short trip to do in one day!

The Napa Valley wine region is also a day drip from San Francisco, and it may be possible to go to Muir woods and the wineries on the same day.

oh boy My daughter and I leave for San Francisco tomorro and I am still undecided about Muir Woods. I have rented a car for one day Thrusday and planned to travel up to Napa, visit one winery and have lunch in Calistoga. We have a 2:30 mud bath planned. I hoped to rent the car by 7:15am and return it by 7:00 pm. Is this too much? I thought it was 1.5 hour drive straight to Calistoga. Also, since I only have the car for one day, how can we manage to get up to Muir Woods? Thanks for your help.

Well you would probably want to do Muir woods First because it's on the way to Napa/Calistoga. We picked up our car probably around 8-9am and we only spent about an hour total at Muir Woods. From there we drove to Napa, had a great gourmet picnic lunch at V. Sattui in St. Helena and then drove through Calistoga. The only thing that will set up back is that mud bath. I would see if you can push back the mud bath a little later, at least by an hour so you have time to fit the winery and lunch in. I think you can do it but get up early and don't spend forever at each location. Even if you aren't at Muir Woods for very long you'll still get a great feel of it.

Go early on the way to Napa or later in the afternoon on your way back - because anywhen else gets REALLY crowded and parking is very limited. We went first thing from San Francisco and I suppose got there by about 10. By the time we left people were having to park along the roadside miles from the entrance. Also, although it's a big place, some of the walkways can get crowded which kind of defeats the whole experience.

I did Muir Woods and Sonoma as an easy day trip.
Muir woods gets CROWDED! We did a hike off the main path and that's what was memorable. Being on the main, paved, packed, path wasn't good at all.
Then we drove on to Sonoma, had lunch on the way, and visited 3 wineries for tastings and tours. Had an early dinner in Sonoma, then headed back to SF.

There's a gorgeous trail - I think Matt Davis trail that starts from the area around Muir woods an dgoes down to Stinson beach - you can go to the beach have luch and then head back..very pretty lots of Ferns - reminded me of the illustrations in the Enid Blyton books I read as a child.

Thanks so much to everyone. We went to Calistoga yesterday and had a mud bath at Indian Springs. On the way we squeezed in a half hour tour at Mondavi. It was wonderful. Today I am trying to figure out how to take public transportation to Muir woods. Thanks again